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DMT Diamond Plates and Rods Coming Soon

I have offered DMT in the past and will resume offering 8x3, 10x3, and 11.5x2.5 plates in 600, 1200 and 8000 (only 8x3" in 8K grit) grits. A felt strop with magnetic backing will be available for each size.

I personally think sharpening on diamond plates is the way to go. It's efficient (fast), user friendly (no flattening needed), gives a bite to the edge (in any grit), and plates can be used as bases for strops. I will offer DMT plates with custom wooden bases, or without (but with oversize non-skid feet that will elevate the plate to the level where it needs to be for comfortable sharpening).

Diamond rods could be used for a quick touch-ups or to sharpen scallops on a bread knife (at least on my knives).

I have used these diamond plates on steels I offer, and combined with strops, these do amazing things to the edge. I have convinced a couple of guys to give it a try and one reported that between stropping and 8K touch-up he was able to extend time between sharpening to 3 months in a pro kitchen. And that was a 52100 knife with my earlier heat treatment.

This is more about bringing a product that I consider to be very good, rather than product I can make money on. I think it's a perfect fit for a pro and home environment.

Will be offered soon:

8x3"

10x3"

11.5x2.5" (my favorite size)

Diamond rod

Ceramic rod

"All beauty that has no foundation in use, soon grows distasteful and needs continuous replacement with something new." The Shakers' saying.

Sweet. I've actually been thinking about giving the diamond plate sharpening a try. I only have a xxc I use for flattening or tip repair and the like. Would be interested in trying some of the finer grits. Do the grit numbers compare evenly to synthetic stones, or is it like synthetic to natural, how the numbers don't match up accordingly?

"This is grain, which any fool can eat, but for which the Lord intended a more divine means of consumption.. Beer!" -Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, Friar Tuck

They roughly compare . 1200 DMT at first feels much coarser, so you have to go easy on pressure, but with time diamonds round a little bit and the grit gives you a milder cut. 8K is comparable to 8K synthetic, but it cuts more aggressively, so you can maintain sharpness for a long time between sharpening by touching up on 8K.

Frankly, I don't think 600 will be that necessary for my knives, as it will take you a while before you wear the edge so you need more aggressive grit to cut, but it might be useful for other brands.

Also, you can do a hybrid edge - low grit diamond plate and high grit synthetic or natural stone. This will give you an aggressive polished edge.

Again, I would not offer anything unless I think it's good and I used it. For convenience and speed, nothing out there can beat diamond. Granted, I have only tested these plates with steels I am using (52100, A2, Mystery Carbon, AEB-L, PM Stainless) but they should work fine with other steels.

I am also looking into diamond plates that could be offered to home cooks without any sharpening experience (and desire to learn a proper way) and could be easily taught to use them. These would make good gifts along with the knife.

M

"All beauty that has no foundation in use, soon grows distasteful and needs continuous replacement with something new." The Shakers' saying.

This has sparked my interest. I used a DMT-C previously, but never felt like it cut anywhere near its 325 rating. For comaprison, a Chocera 400 seemingly cuts twice as fast, although ive never used them side by side.

The DMT 1200 seems in line with a 1500-2K waterstone, but the "8K" at 3 microns is more like a 4-5K stone (which is preferable to me compared to a true 8K finish).
Do the finer grit plates seem to do the job at the same speed as a comparable wetstone? Obviously, a waterstone cuts the same for its whole useable life, whereas I assume these continually get less effective over their lifespan (how long do they work?). And what do you do to break them in?
I'm interested to hear what anyone thinks of all this, because I'd like to give the diamonds a shot because the simplicity and no mess, no fuss aspect is appealing to me. I'm not caught up with the "zen" aspect of sharpening enough to deal with the mud and water and flattening etc. if the diamond will get the job done as well.

I use waterstones at the shop for sharpening and final knife geometry, but at home I use diamond plates and the strop for sharpening. Waterstones scratches are easier to remove, so that is why I never flatten knives or work their geometry on diamond plates. I have a sharpening station with some stones soaking permanently there, so using waters stones for geometry and sharpening makes sense. At home I don't spend too much sharpening knives, so fast and convenient way of sharpening is more appealing.

Steels that use on my knives (52100, A2, PM stainless, AEB-L, and hopefully mystery carbon) all responded well to this combination, but so did they responded well to waterstones followed by a 1-2M strop.

I also thought that having a super flat surface for a strop that doubles as your sharpening plate is also convenient. Bases are not necessary with the plates, but big silicone feet are, as feet that are included with plates are too short.

I use B for cutting boars, and they work well on the plates:
22.3mm x 9.6mm

Yes, magnetic backed strops can be purchased separately.

"All beauty that has no foundation in use, soon grows distasteful and needs continuous replacement with something new." The Shakers' saying.

Thanks for the info Marko. So it's basically a tradeoff of more scratching/scuffed finish in return for less mess, quicker cutting and no flattening when using the diamond plates. I think I'm going to give this a shot. Do you find any noticeable or tangible difference in how a knife cuts or the edge feels when sharpened on wetstones vs plates (of similar grits)?

I don't sharpen higher than 5K on the wet stones (Rika 5K), so I can't say for sure. Typically 1K, 5K and felt strop with 1M diamond puts a very good edge on a knife.

I am a home cook, so to get a good idea how my steels perform and how sharpening setup I recommend works out, I have to rely in feedback from others. So here is what I was told. (I skip the feedback on stropping as a way to get the edge sharper, that is a pretty common knowledge these days).

In both cases steel was 52100, with my earlier HT. Stropping after the shift restored the edge to almost like-newly sharpened condition and prolonged the time between sharpening up to one month of use in a pro kitchen (this might vary from products cut, so I say up to though the actual figure was one month. As you go toward the end of the months, the restoration of the edge will be less). Using regular stropping and periodic touch-ups on 8K plate prolonged the time between sharpening up to 3 months in a pro kitchen. 8K plate also can be used when you need your knife razor-sharp for a specific task during this time. With my newer HT wear resistance should be better, so these numbers should be totally achievable. I think the combination of 8K/strop is the way to go.

I recommend DMT plates and felt strops w/diamond sprays for my knives. I haven't tested them with white/blue steels and other steels, but in theory they should work fine. These products are geared toward pro market, as they offer convenience and speed, but could be used for home users as well.

As with all my products, I would not offer anything that I don't think is good. I would lose my sleep if I did that.

"All beauty that has no foundation in use, soon grows distasteful and needs continuous replacement with something new." The Shakers' saying.